A prayer for the dying
by Deathberry15
Summary: Submission for IchigoxOrihime Tanabata festival contest. Oneshot loaded with fluffiness ok, not so much. Ichigo and Orihime thought of a special way to spend Tanabata together.


Guess I misunderstood the contest rules, and having finished my fanfiction entry sooner than I expected, I posted it on before I should have. I was supposed to e-mail Lady Orihime first. Silly me, silly me…

No good crying over spilt milk, though. I had a few other ideas up my sleeve, I hadn't worked them out yet, but since I have to write a new story if I want to enter the contest, I sat down, I wrote, and I finished. (Yay for me!)

So here it is. It's already been submitted for the contest, so it's safe for me to post it here now. Hope it's up to par with the rest of my stories, which have gotten many good reviews (another yay for me!). Here's to my readers and fellow shippers, another manifestation of my love for this pairing. IchiHime FTW! (oh dear, I'm turning into such a geek… oh well.)

**Author's note: **You could say this is a sequel to my last posted fic, "Do this for her". Or a completely independent story. Whichever way you wish to look at it.

And… title came to me while listening to these songs (guess which one was the charmed). Someone from the Five Livetimes, One Love forums mentioned she thought this story was angsty before she read it, because of the title. And I agree. But too late now, I already submitted it like this. I can't come up with anything better anyway... buuuuh...

**Music:** "Wind" by Akeboshi (yes, I know it's from Naruto); "In between" by Linkin Park "Prayer for the dying" by Seal, "Like blood like honey" by Holly Brook.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own them, Kubo-san does. I'm just borrowing them for my own petty entertainment (and yours, hopefully). I don't own the song either. Seal does (oooh Seal, you lovely, lovely man, I adore you! You're awesome!!)

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**A prayer for the dying**

**- by Deathberry15**

"…And I scored the third highest marks on the final exams this past term. I supposed you would be proud of me. I know I probably should've told you before, but I guess it sort of slipped my mind. I'm sorry, onii-chan."

Orihime readjusted her position before her brother's grave. She pushed her hair behind her ear, something she had to do a lot since the wind kept blowing it into her face, in spite of her flower-shaped hairpins doing everything to try to keep it out of it. She folded her hands on her lap again and sighed.

"I got sick about a month ago. A nasty cold, kept me in bed for nearly a week. But I'm all better now," she smiled. "I was just sad that you weren't there to take care of me. I think I probably would've recovered in an instant, you always knew exactly what to do to make me feel better." A brief expression of sadness crossed her face, before she broke into a smile again. "But don't worry. Someone else took really good care of me."

She took a deep breath. "Truth is, onii-chan… I have a boyfriend now."

Orihime paused for a moment, looking intently at the bluish-gray stone, at the burning incense stick, as if waiting for something. Like allowing a moment for the news to sink in. It was like talking to any other person, except that she couldn't expect a reply. Still, this was not just any person she was talking to. This was her brother, her only family. She knew he was listening. He always was. She wanted –needed— to share this with him, and she wanted to feel him there, paying attention.

"You see, onii-chan," she continued, "he's a really nice guy. He's smart and kind, he cheers me up, and makes me laugh when he makes those funny faces, you should see him." Orihime chuckled. "And he protects me. Much like you did."

She pushed her hair back again. "I want to protect him, too. He's important to me, more important than anyone else right now." She put a finger to her chin in a thoughtful manner. "Well, Tatsuki-chan is very important to me, too, she's my best friend in the world… and now Ishida-kun and Sado-kun, and Kuchiki-san and Abarai-kun, they're my friends, so they're important too." She looked at the grave again with a smile. "And then of course, there's you. You will always be important to me."

Orihime intertwined her fingers on her lap. "But he loves me. And he makes me happy," she said. "And I wanted you to know that."

"I wish you could meet him," she sighed. "Well, in a way, you already did, I'm just not sure if you'd remember. Or if you'd even _want_ to remember, considering it was a bit of an awkward situation, although it turned out okay in the end." Her smile widened. "Still, you'd like him, I think. He's good. He takes good care of me, not only when I'm sick, but all the time. And I like to take care of him too." She paused again, smiling solemnly this time. "I love him."

Another gust of wind messed up her hair, and Orihime looked up at the afternoon sky, the setting sun coloring the clouds with pink and orange. It was getting late.

"I guess I should go. I'm sorry I took so long to visit you again, but we've been really busy and distracted lately, with me being sick and Ichigo being sick and school and Arrancar and Hueco Mundo and, oh!— Ichigo's birthday is just around the corner and I haven't planned anything yet!" Orihime shrugged. "Oh well, it won't happen again, I promise. I love you, onii-chan. I'll see you soon."

Ichigo watched as Orihime prayed, and frowned in utter confusion at what she had just been talking about. Funny faces? Since when did he make funny faces? And how could she speak about Arrancar attacks and Hueco Mundo as if they were everyday things?

But as she got up and smoothed her yukata, and she approached him and kissed him on the cheek, Ichigo's frown softened. It was relieving to see her back to normal, back to her carefree, cheerful self. And it was comforting to be there with her, watching her talk to her brother like that. She made a big deal about having Sora "meet" her boyfriend for the first time, and as nonsensical as it may have seemed to him at first, Ichigo had been suddenly very nervous when they arrived at Sora's grave.

I love you too, he thought, putting his hands together to say a brief prayer for Sora, and a general prayer for the dead and for the dying. He then grabbed Orihime's hand and smiled at her.

"Come on, Ichigo," Orihime smiled back and started pulling him along the pathway. "You promised I'd meet your mother."

He rolled his eyes, still smiling. "I know. We're going, we're going," he said, leading her in the direction he went every June 17th. That was something he always did with his family. And now, it meant a lot to Orihime to be able to do this. Ichigo figured, as he adjusted the obi of his yukata, the Tanabata festival was perhaps the perfect occasion to have this sort of "meeting". If it meant so much to Orihime, he had no problem complying with her, just to see her happy.

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Another sappy display of my "fangirliness" for your enjoyment. I know I enjoyed it.

(Gets up from the computer and stretches … ow…)

EDIT: I'm in Tokyo. Yay! As it is customary for Tanabata, I travel _almost_ every year to visit my family. Almost. I used to be able to do it every year, but since I graduated from high school and started college and university and work over here in the UK, and I've moved around so much, it's become more difficult. My vacation period rarely coincides with summer, so sometimes I can't travel for the festival. This year, fortunately, was an exception. And ooooh, how I needed a vacation.

And Harry came with me. Double yay!

(For those who wonder, Harry is my boyfriend. He's British. And has red hair. Like Ichigo's :)).

Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed this one as well. Have a nice one!

**-Nariko the Seer a.k.a Deathberry15**


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